DL: Elijah Roberts*, Greg Gaines
NT: Vita Vea, Elijah Simmons*
DL: Logan Hall, C.J. Brewer
OLB: Yaya Diaby, Chris Braswell, Markees Watts
ILB: SirVocea Dennis, John Bullock*
ILB: Lavonte David, Deion Jones
OLB: Haason Reddick, Anthony Nelson
CB: Jamel Dean, Benjamin Morris*, Kindle Vildor
CB: Zyon McCollum, Jacob Parrish*, Josh Hayes
S: Antoine Winfield Jr., Christian Izien
S: Tykee Smith, Kaevon Merriweather
With Haason Reddick still sidelined by ankle and knee injuries, the team relied heavily on Anthony Nelson and Yaya Diaby as its edge rushers. Nelson played 56 of the 61 defensive snaps on Sunday and Diaby played 49, while the third man in the rotation, Chris Braswell, drew just 16 plays. The Bucs elevated outside linebacker Mohamed Kamara from the practice squad for the game but only had him in for one defensive snap.
The Bucs' coaching staff continued to get rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison some developmental snaps, as he replaced Jamel Dean for 10 plays against the Patriots. Safety Tykee Smith was off the field for 10 snaps, some of which were jumbo packages against short-yardage run formations, though he was briefly shaken up at one point, as well. Smith created the game's only takeaway with a brilliant diving interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Rookie defensive lineman Elijah Roberts continued to see his role on defense grow, as he started and played 67% of the defensive snaps. Roberts accounted for the Bucs' only sack of the game and also had a pair of third-down drive-killing plays with a pass deflection and a tackle of Drake Maye on a short scramble. Nose tackle Vita Vea played 79% of the snaps and was credited with a season-high seven QB pressures.
SPECIALISTS
P: Riley Dixon
PK: Chase McLaughlin
KO: Chase McLaughlin
H: Riley Dixon
LS: Evan Deckers
PR: Kameron Johnson, Tez Johnson*
KR: Sean Tucker, Josh Williams*
KR: Kameron Johnson, Rachaad White
Rookie linebacker Nick Jackson was elevated from the practice squad for the game and made his NFL debut on Sunday, playing 16 snaps on special teams. Cornerback Josh Hayes played a team-high 24 special teams snaps and recorded one kick-coverage tackle. Linebacker Deion Jones had two solo tackles on special teams for the second week in a row. Rookie running back Josh Williams took over for Sean Tucker on kickoff returns but both of the runbacks in the game went to the other deep man, Kameron Johnson.